Mending
by bhut
Summary: Set after "The Red Pyramid". Set is mending bridges with Horus and the others, and Bast is being assigned to the Kane siblings as an adult supervisor.


**Mending**

_Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Rick Riordan._

_Note: this story contains spoilers for the originals series._

And so it has come to this, pure and simple. His plan failed, his red pyramid was scattered deep across the Duat, the demon army – simply scattered, and Horus was pharaoh, the Great House once again, as always. And Isis has helped him, again – as always. And he, Set, The Defiler of the Dead, the Father of Jackals (someone should really remind Anubis of this) and the strongest warrior in all of the pantheon was left out once more without any options-

Except there was. Apep, Apophis, the (self-proclaimed) "Living Embodiment of Evil" had certainly been interested in Set... as a potential meal or a dupe.

Nobody duped Set. Nobody. Not even a giant serpent who threatened to destroy the entire world and that what it came down to: the Pantheon – Horus, Isis, Nephthys and others – were really the only ones who could tolerate Set and not try to use him either, as Apep has apparently done.

"Curses," was all that muttered Set as he continued to slowly walk up to the Horus's palace. "Guess my birthday really is over-"

He stepped in something soft.

Letting some _really_ colorful phrases escape from his lips, the Defiler of the Dead looked down to see just who left this mess – and was actually surprised.

"And what has happened to _you_?" he instinctually asked.

A pair of golden eyes stared defiantly back at him.

/

As Set had expected the party had stared (was starting?) without him. Sadly, his arrival had not gone unnoticed either – but then again, being one of five senior gods (Mother Nut and Father Geb did not quite count) and with his color being bright red it was hard not to be noticed.

"Uncle," Horus could afford to gracious at the moment of his triumph. "What brings you here?"

"I've come to swear homage, Great House," Set said with nary a grimace as he kowtowed. "It seems that the dark times are laying ahead, the Lying – I mean the Living Embodiment of Evil had almost gotten trapped in his coils and only you, it seems, can deliver us from his darkness now that the Sun-Faced Ra is gone."

"We accept your homage, uncle," Horus continued to sound magnanimous, "and we are grateful for it. Rise again, our loyal supporter and servant!"

"You're too grateful, Great House," Set replied, his mask still in place... when he noticed someone on one side. "You find something amusing, _son_?"

Anubis, Set's estranged son, who had been grinning at Horus' triumph, gulped and quickly moved out of the Defiler's gaze. Horus, whose own relationship with Anubis had its own difficulties, frowned.

"Uncle, please, do not start trouble," he said sternly, but not as sternly as the Judge of the Dead (i.e. Anubis) would have liked. "After all, you already have done plenty of it... and did you bring us a present?"

"No – I am reasonably sure that that's Bast," Set shrugged calmly. "I met her on my way here... if it is really her and not another of the enemy's tricks – in this condition it is hard to tell."

"No, it really is Bast," Isis, who kept quiet while her son and brother talked, spoke for the first time. "Who done this to her?"

"That would be me," Sobek rumbled from his position. "You were there to, mistress of magic and potions, remember?"

"That was a rhetorical... never mind," Isis shook her head – if there was a god that _did not_ understand the concept of rhetoric it was Sobek. "You've really done a job on her, didn't you?"

"Yes. Set tricked me," the crocodile god added as an afterthought.

There was a general rolling of eyes: nobody really liked Set, but everybody had to admit that when it came to Sobek, no trickery was required. "Hey, Sobek, did you hear – Horus is really weak, bet you can defeat him now" - and off Sobek went, only to have his tail handed back to him, by Bast of all the deities.

Then again, it looked it had cost Bast a lot – the wild goddess looked barely coherent and mobile at this moment, her powers almost depleted by her battle with Sobek.

"Guess now Set is going to restore her, seeing how everything was his fault," Sobek chose this moment to grunt.

Set reached out almost idly and grabbed Sobek by his snout. "And Sobek is going to help, seeing how he got so much power to spare now." He made it sound like a suggestion, not a statement, since he was currently out of favor.

"We all will donate some of our strength to Bast," Horus said suddenly. "We do owe the Kane siblings a debt of gratitude, and their journey has only begun. They need adult supervision – I mean help of the gods – and Bast is just the deity to do it, seeing how there is her input in the problem as well. Let it be done!"

And so it was done.

And thus Bast went back to the mortal world – to Brooklyn, to be more precise – to help Carter and Sadie Kane, but that is another story.


End file.
